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You should use the SUNWsneep package from the Sun Service Tools Bundle.
This will normally retrieve the serial number from the chassis. However,
on the grounds that you are running Solaris 8, the machine may be
sufficiently old enough for there to not be a serial number embedded in
the machine, which means you will have to go visit the machine and
inspect the rear of the machine to find it manually.

The only certain way is to look at the back of the server. or have someone else look
Sneep is a tool you have to install and then add the serial number to it
If you can get to the ok prompt, you can run the command "banner" This will give you a serial number that is probably correct, but not guaranteed

Posted by raviarani (container)
on Jan 21 at 9:53 AM
Mark as helpful
no luck with any of the above answers:
# eeprom | grep ChassisSerialNumber
#
# sneep
unknown
#
and i cannot look at the machine .. since it is remotely located

I have one doubt .........!
1) i Find a serial no behind or front of a server.
2) One more serial no at the OK a serial no. appears then what is this.
and when server is booting up u find a serial no. what that does this mean.

Can you please share whether all those serial # is same or different.
Hope Booting serial # , banner at OBP will have the same serial # and
it's same as of you see in behind the server.
Pease verify the below output , for your kind reference.

Please note , serial # at my setup cannot be shared due to security
reasons.
Also please note , if you found any serial #s in front side of the
server , it might be for HDD's serial #s.
Please revert if any other concerns.

The location of the serial number is available from the relevant page for your system in the sun system handbook which you can get to from sunsolve. sunsolve.sun.com/handbook_pub

The serial printed as part of the banner before booting is the decimal equivalent of the normally hexadecimal hostid, and is not actually a serial number.

A serial number which prints while booting and includes the word ChassisSerialNumber is a serial number stored in the eeprom by sneep.
Either because sneep got it from the hardware, or someone went to the trouble of entering it. There is always room for error, but a sneep serial is usually correct.

The serial printed as part of the banner before booting is the decimal equivalent of the normally hexadecimal hostid, and is not actually a serial number. It will never be correct.

Depending on the hardware platform, sneep may be able to discover the serial number.
Many of the newer machines provide this information in a variety of ways. Sneep brings them all together in a single command.

Other platforms are either more difficult (e.g. possibly requiring login to a system controller or ILOM), or impossible because the serial is just plain not available to software, at all, period.

On these "difficult" platforms, once you give sneep the serial, you will have access to the serial in software from then on.

It is unfortunate but true that for *some* platforms, someone has to make a physical inspection of the machine, which (ideally) you follow up with sneep -s SerialFromPhysicalInspection so that you never have to go to all that trouble again.

The serial number that shows in the banner during boot-up is related to the HOSTID, which is a hexidecimal number. But the HOSTID is changeable. To determine what any software sees as the serial number do the following at a command prompt:

>hostid

drop the first two digits from that hex number [they identify the hardware] and use a calculator to convert the remain hex number to a decimal number. That decimal number is the serial number.